Splitting machine



5 Sheet-s-Sheet 1 J G NORTON SPLITTING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 91920 m 4 JJ 1, 1u. v. a l o N w Figi.

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Patented Nov. 3, 1925.

UNITED? STATES PVA`TENTT1 "FFIcEi JAMES G. NORTON, or ELTINervlLIai,`NEWY'ORK, AssIGNOB. To UNITED SHOE MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, orrarnasoia,` NnW-JERsEnA CORPORATION OFNEW.

i JERSEY.

srLITTING MACHINE.'`

Application filed october e, 1920, serial Ne. 415,810. i Renewed Jennery5, 19a-1.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES G. NORTON, a citizen of theUnited States,residingat Eltingville, S. I., in the county of Richmond and State ofNewYork,'have invented certain Improvements in Splitting Machines,

of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, kis a specification, likereference characters on the drawingsindicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for operating upon pieces of stockand is herein described as embodied in a machine for operating uponheel-lift blanks to reduce each blank whichis not of a uniform thicknessthroughout to a uniform thickness. Leather heel lift blanks as they comefrom ythedieing-out machine are of dierent thicknesses, and many of theblanks considered individually are not uni-form in thickness throughout.It is desirable that each uneven blank be reduced to a uniform thicknesssuch that the thickness of the nished` lift is the greatest which could`be produced fromV the given blank. Y t

According toone feature of the invention the amount of variation of ablank with respect to a selected characteristic is deter-` mined, andmeans controlled by the variation-determining means is provided forchanging that characteristic. trat-ive machine the amount of :dierenceinthickness between the thickest and the thin-v nest locality of eachuneven blank-is determined, and then a skiving mechanism is set inaccordance with this thickness-difference to reduce the blank to auniform thickness.

Many of the heel-lift blanks, Vas they come from the dieing out machine,are of uniform thickness throughout or are so nearly o-fy uniformthickness that they may be considered to be of uniform thickness. Suchblanks are suitable for use in heels without` further treatment, andshould not be skived or Otherwise reduced in thickness. According thento another feature of the invention the means foi changing the selectedcharacteristic of the blank is rendered inoperative when a given blankdoes not vary in that characteristic orj varies so little that thevariation is immaterial so far as the use to which the blank is to beput is concerned. In the illustrative machine ifl a blank is In the`illusfound not `to vary-in thickness'i-Or. notto vary beyond apredetermined standard, the

skivingmechanism is rendered inoperative andthe blank passes through-themachineI withoutbeing Operated upon.A .These and other features ofthinvention,

including certain details of construction and combinations of parts willbe described as embodied in' an illustrative -machine and.

pointed outin the appended claims.

Referring now ings, l

Fig. l is a side elevation of a machine in whichthe present inventionisembodied;

parts ofthe machine;

Flg. 3 is a perspective showing more ypar- Fig. 2 is a perspective of`the working anism upon the setting mechanism;

ticularly the operation of the testing "meche Fig. it 1s a perspectiveshowing blank-iniv process of being-ski'ved.

Fig. 5 is a detail principallyinfelevationf of a portion ofthe settingmechanism;

the lower feed member 'and' their driving mechanism, f

`Figa/2' is aperspective of the'main shaft of the machine showing. moreparticularly the controlling cams and their associatedk levers, and

Fig. 8 is a perspective of the mechanismfor locking the lower .blankengaging member from vertical movement, the mechanism being vshow-n inits locking position.

to the Vaccomp anying draw.:

Fig. 6 is a perspective of thefrollsfofv Referring first moreparticularly to Fig. 1,

a briefv Outlineofthe operation' of the ma-Y chine will be given. Theblanks, herein shown as heel lift blanks 100, are stacked in a magazine11 and fed successively byy a feed slide 13 first to a testing ordetecting mechanism located beneath a rigid plate 15 and thento a,skiving mechanism located at the rear of the machine. V'The testingmecha#A Just before the forward end of the blank reaches the skivingknife, that member of the skiving mechanism which engages the under sideofthe blank, hereinafter referred to as the lower member 19, is causedto rise solrthat the blank isthen engaged on both its upper andlowersides. The feed slide is then returned to its initial position, andthe blank is advanced by power-driven rolls,-

thick plate having yieldingly mounted in ita series of small blocks 23which are urged downward at all times by springs 25, the blocks beingheld from being pushed out of the recesses in which they are mounted bya thin plate 27 which is fastened to the under side of the thick plate.The thin plate has openings the edges of which overlie slightly theedges of the recesses in which the blocks 23 are mounted and are adaptedto engage shoulders on the blocks and thereby limit the-extent ofdownward movement of the blocks. Each block has mounted in it an idleroll 29 the lowermost elements of the rolls forming the effectivepressing face of the upper blank-engaging member. This member isnormally in raised position Well above the plane of the cut of theknife, and is moved down into the proper position by the testingmechanism and certain connections in response to thethickness-difference of the lift as determined by vthe testingmechanism. lVhen the blocks 23 are pushed'up into their fully retractedpositions'their upper faces contact with the flat upper walls of thesockets in the thick plate, and the'lowermost elements of the rolls 29then lie substantially in the plane of thel lower face of the thin plate27 and present an unyielding pressing surface.

The lower member 19 has mounted in it five power driven feed rolls 31,the axes of which are stationary with respect to the plate. This memberis normally well below the plane of the cut of the knife and is broughtup against the blank after the upper member 17 has been set and theblank has been fed by the feed `slide 13 into a position in which itsleading edge is close to the knife. The blank-engaging surface of thelower member is thus formed bythe upper portions of the rolls 31 and isrigid during the skiving operation as will presently be described.

Considering more in detail the setting and of the cut of the knife tothe plane of the rigid blank-engaging surface of the member equals theamount of this thickness-difference. By the expression plane of therigid blank-engaging surface of the member `is meant substantiallytheplane of the under surface of the thin plate 27 since, when the smallblocks 23 are moved to their upper limits, the lower elements of therolls 29 are substantially in this plane. After the upper member hasbeen thus set, the blank is fed forward, as has been described, untillits forward end is close to the knife. The lower member 19 'is thenraised yieldingly through aheavy spring until it forces the blank firmlyagainst the upper member, whereupon it also is held rigidly frommovement either toward or away from the blank. The blank now lies flatupon the upper elements of the rolls 31, being held fiat against theserolls by the presser rolls 29 the supporting springs of which are ofsufficient strength to accomplish this. The

lower -surface of the blank is thus maintained in a horizontal planewhich is parallel to the plane of the cut of the knife so that thefinishedV article, which eventually passes beneath the knife, will be ofuniform thickness throughout. The upper surface of the f blank, assumingthe blank to be of uneven thickness, does not lie in a' horizontal planebut in an inclined plane if the blank is regularly tapered from end toend or at various levels if there are thick spots separated by thinspots. Assuming for convenience of explanation that the-blank isthickest at its leading edge and tapers regularly to its rear orfollowing edge, the block 23 nearest the knife will be pushed up to thelimit in its socket so as to be no longer yielding, and the remainingblocks 23 will ext-end from` their sockets each more than the precedingone. Consequently the chip removed by the knife will be thicker at theforward than at the rearward end, the finished articles being of auniform thickness throughout approximately equal to the distance betweenthe plane of the cut of the knife and the planev of the upper elementsof the rolls 31. With such a mechanism a series of blanks each of whichhas a thickness difference (that is a thickness different in onelocality from that in another) and I i zine which from the blank fromwhich it was produced, The upper member 17 is primarily a gaging vmemberwhich is set in accordance with they thicl-:ness-diiference of a blankregardless of the actual general or average thickness of the blank; andthe lower member 19 is primarily a gripping and feeding member. Itshould be noted that after the upper member has been set and the lowermember pushed up against the blank to grip and feed it to the knife, thedistance from the plane of the upper elements'of the rolls 31 to thelower element of that roll 29 which is pushed up to the limit of itsupward movement and is therefore pressing rigidly against the blank isequal to the thickness of the thickest locality of the blank. fReferring once .more to Fig. 1 with occasional reference to Fig. 7, thefeed slide 13 is slidably mounted upon the table 33 of the machine andis urged at all times backward (to the left in Fig. l) by a spring 35which is fastened at one end toa pin 37 carried by the feed Slide and atthe other to a pin 39 carried by the frame of the machine. F ast to thepin 37 is one end of a strap 41, the other end of which passes around aroll 43 and is fastened to a pin 45 carried by the frame. The roll 43 iscarried at the upper end of an arm 47 fulcrumed at 49 upon a stationarypivot, said arm having a tail which is adapted to engage alternatelyadjustable stops 51, 53 which are threaded through bosses on the side ofthe frame Vof the machine. An extensible link 55, the parts of which areat all times urged toward each other by a spring 57, is pivoted at oneend to the arm 47 and at the other to an arm 59, said arm being pivotedto the frame at 61 and carrying at its upper end a roll 6 3 whichco-operates with a cam 65 fast to a rotary shaft 67.v This shaft hasfastV upon it a large gear 69 with which meshes a small gear 71 on ya.short shaft 73 having fast upon itsY outer end a pulley 75 which isdriven continuously by a belt 77 from any suitable source of power. Thecam 65 rotates in the direction indicated by rthe arrow and is shaped tocause the feed slide 13 to move quickly to a position beneath the plate15 and'above the testing or detecting mechanism, then to remainstationary duringy the testing operation, then to move quickly forwardto present the tested blank to the splitting mechanism and finally to bereturned to the initial position shown. It should'be noted that byreason of the strap connection 41', the movement of the feed slide istwice as great as the bodily movement of the roll 43. The walls of themagaholds the blanks are adjustable horizontally to provide for blanksof different sizes and vertically to provide for blanks of differentthicknesses as best appears in Y Fig. 2, but the constructionof themagaziney which-the blank is will not be described in detail since itforms no part of the present invention. Ina'smuch as heel-lift blanksare commonly ksomewhat warped, a weight 79V is placedupion'the top ofthe stack.' x A v As has been explained above, the -blank to beoperateduponis rst'brought into position beneath the plate 15 abovethe-testingk mechanism and causedv to pausein this position during thetesting operation and the setting of the upper blank-engaging member 17of the splitting' mechanism. Referrin now more particularly to Figs. l2and 3, t e testing mechanism andits mode-of operation will be described.l The under face of the plate 15'serves as an abutment against pressedby detectors or testers in the-form of idle rolls 81, five beingemployed in the illustrative machine. Each .roll is mounted in a yoke 83which is square lin cross-section and passes through a square hole in aplate 85. Each yoke has a stem` 87 which passes through a hole in asecond plate 89, there being each stem and acting to push the yokeupwardly and a collar 93 on each stem below the Vplate 89 ito limit theextent of upward movement-of the yoke. The plates 85, 89 are part of aframe which comprises the plates and a connecting U-shaped member theupright arms of which are vertically slidable in guideways in the frameof the machine.

l,VVhen' a blankhas been fed into position` above this testing ordetecting mechanism,

a sarino` 91 encirclinff.

theframe, comprisingthe plates 85, 89 and y the U-shaped-y supportingmember 95 is raisedy to cause the'detecting rolls 81 to pressthe blankfirmly against the under face of the` plate 15. In order to produce thisraising movement the base of the U-shaped member 95 has depending lugscarrying a pin 97 Y which` is received in the forked end ofy a lever 99fulcrumed near its middle about a rod V101v "and carrying at its remoteend aV roll 4102,V arranged to run on a properly shaped cam 104 on theshaft 67. When the frame carrying the detecting rolls- 81 is thusraised, the rolls, becauseof their yielding supports, will stand atditferentlevels according to the thickness of the-blank at thelocalities engaged bythe rolls. Of course a given Vblank may-be ofuniform thickness throughout, but that case will be discussed later. Forthe present it will be assumed,

in order to promote clearness of explanation,

that the blank varies in thickness at different localities and isthickest at one locality and thinnest at another. In such. case onedetector 81 will be higher than any of t-he others and one will belower.

two particular detectors 81 right-hand one engaging the ity in the blank100 and the engaging the thickest locality,

are shown, the thinnestr` local- `the difference In Fig. 3 theseleft-hand one v CAB *the illustrative in height between these twodetectors being the thickness-difference in accordance with the amountof which the upper member 17 of the skiving mechanism is to be set. 1nmachine an intermediate controlling member 103 is irstset and then theupper member 17 of the skiving -mechanism isset from this member. Thecontrolling member `103 is T-Shaped, the head and stem, except theleft-hand end of the head, being substantially square in cross-section.rlhe stem has a .socket to receive a supportsoclrct; and the right-handend of the head of the "i" is vertically slidable in a verticalrectangular guideway 107 of the machine. the head of the T beveledstop-face 109 member 111 is adapted to contact by being swung angularlytoward it in a manner which will presently be described. Normally thesetting member 111 is spaced from the stop-face 109 as shown in Fig. 2.1t is not The left-hand end is cut away to form a moved into contactwith the stop-face, as'

shown in Fig. 3, until after the T-shaped controller 103 has been set bythe movement of thetwo detectors 81 which engage respectively thethickest and the thinnest locality in the blank 100.

The mounting and setting of this T- shaped controller will now bedescribed. The spindle 105, which` supports the controller, is rotatablein a'sleeve 113 which is itself rotatable in anV upright bearing in theframe 107 of the machin-e. The sleeve has at its lower end an obliqueslot 115 Vinto which extends a pin 117 carried'by the spindle 105. Fastto the spindle is a gear 119, and fast to the sleeve is a gear 121. 1twill be evident from this construction that if the gears 119, 121 arerotated the same distance in the direction indicatedby the arrow, thevertical position of the spindle will not change; but if the gear 119 isrotated va greater distance than the gear 121, the spindle will rise andraise the T-shaped controller 103 with it. Slidably mounted inhorizontal Vguideways in the frame of the machine are two racks one ofwhich, 123, engages the gear 119 and the other ofl which, 125, engagesthe gear 121, both gears being engaged on the same side so that pullingthe racls to the right (as viewed in Fig. will rotate the gears in thedirection indicated by the arrow. integral with the forward end of therack 123 is a bar 127, and integral with the forward end of the rack 125is a bar 129, the bars being urged at all times toward each other by acompression spring 131 Awhich is fast at one end to a bracket carried atthe rear end of the rack 123 and at the other end to the bar 129 whichis integral ywith the raclr`125. Located between the bars are lugs133formed on the rear ends ing spindle 1.05 which fits looselyv in thevformed in the frame.

with which a 'setting in Fig. the positions of the lugs 133 depend uponthe positions of the detectors.

To it end each slide'135 hase. recess 137 in 'i nonntcd an idle roll139', and le2;-

1 Aongh each recess the head of 1li-l arranged to slide vertically in'xrings in the machine. The lower ein c caln rod is forked to receive apin 1-13 ca ried at the rear end of a lever 1%15 which is fulcrumed nearits middle upon a red 1-1-7. 'Flach lever 1115 has'at its forward end a'Zo to receive a pin-1119 carried by an amr-151 which is fast to thelower end of stein 37 of one of the yolres 33 in which the detectorsfilare mounted. Theforward ends of the slides 1353 carry small guiderods 153 which pass through holes in a part of the frame A107 of themachine. Coiled springs 155 encircle therods and press the rolls 139 ofthe slides at all times against the inclinedV faces of the cam rods 141and thus maintain the rr hs 123, inthe.positionsshown in Fig. 2 when noblank Vis present in the machine.

Considering now Fig. 3 in which theright-hand vdetector 31 is shown inengagement with the thinnest locality of the blank which is engaged byrany of the detectors, and the left-handdetector is shown in engagementwith the thickest locality,'it will be` seen that the cam rod 141 whichis con: nected with the right-hand detector 31 has moved downwardly agreater distance than has the cam rod which is connected'with theleft-hand detector 31. Ets a result of this,

the gear 119- has been rota-,ted a greater distance than the gear 121,the pin 117 has ridden up in the slotm115,and the T-shaped controller103 .has been raised. U'lhus far only two of the detectors 31 and theirassociated levers, cam rods and slides have been considered, these twobeing the ones which engage respectively the rthickest and the thinnestlocality in blank. lt will now be clear, however, that it is notnecessary to consider the oth-er detectors, since vthe lugs 133 on theother slides would be in contact neither with the bar 127 nor the bar.129 and would therefore have no eifect upon the rotation of the gears119, 121 and consequently no effect upon the height to which thecontroller 103 was raised. Thus in the case in whichone of thedetectorsengages the thinnest locality and one the thickest locality,the controller 103 will be raised a distance proportionate tothedifference in height of these two detectors, that is a distanceproportionate to the.

thickness-difercnce of the blank. It should now be clear that in everycase the distance through which the controller 103 will be raised willbe proportionate to the thicknessdifference of the blank which isengaged by the detectors. This is true of the case (to be consideredlater) of the blank which has -no thicknessedifference, since in suchcase the controller 103 will not be raisedat all.

After the controller 103 has been raised or set in the manner which hasbeen de scribed, it is looked temporarily in this position by a steppedwedge 157. This wedge (see Figs.A 3 and 7) is slidable in a guideway inthe frame of the machine and is carried at the upper end of a lever 159the hub' 0f which is fulcrumed about a rock-shaft 161 and has a tail 163arranged to'be engaged by a cam 165 mounted upon the rotary shaft 67. Aspring 167 urges the wedge at all times to move .beneath the right-handend of the head of the T-shaped controller 103', 'the cam 165 beingshaped to hold the wedge away from the controller until thev controllerhas been raised as has been described above. At the proper time the cam165 permits the wedge to be projected beneath the controller and to beheld beneath it while the setting member 111 (Figs. 2 and 3) operates toseil the upper blank-engaging member or plate 17 of the splittingmechanism. Specifically the tail 163 of the lever 159 rides off from theraised portion of the cam 165 as soon as a blank is fed to the testingmechanism so that the wedge 157 is free to be moved progressivelybeneaththe controller 103 as the controller rises.

The setting member 111 is formed upon the upper end of a lever 169 thehub of which is fulcrumed upon the rock-shaftv 161 and has a tailcarrying a roll 171 arranged to run upon a cam 173 which is fast to theshaft 67. A spring 175, actingupon the tail of the lever below the roll171, urges the sett-ing member at all times toward the oblique stop-face109 on the controller 103. The cam 173 is so shaped as to hold thesetting member 111 away from the stop-face 109 until the controller 103has been raised into proper position and the wedge 157 has beenprojected beneath the head of the con-v troller so as to hold it irmlyin raised position. The setting member, as has been stated, is formed onthe upper end of a lever 169. Also formed upon the yupper end of thislever is a yoke 177 (see Fig. 2) the arms of which have slots in theirupper ends to receive the trunnions 179 at the opposite ends of awedge-carrier 181. This wedge carrier has integral with it two arms eachof which is formed with two wedges 183, each arm having a flat uppersurface which bears against a correpsonding surface formed on the underside of a bearing block are provided, as shown, which at all times urgelthe cross-bar 191 and consequently the member 17 upwardly. Normally,vthe member 17 is in raised position since thecomparatively thinportionsofthe wedgesare yin engagement with the rolls 187 but when the settingmember 111is permitted to be moved into contact with kthe stop-.face 109of the controller103 by the spring 175, the wedges are pulled'forwardsoas to move the member 17 downwardly and; hold itrigidly from upwardmovement.` As has been eX-` plained above, the parts `are constructedand proportioned so that thev member 17 is forced downwardly until thedistance from the plane of the cut of the knife to a.

-plane which would pass through the lower elements of the rolls 29 ifsaid yrolls were occupying their uppermost positions with the blocks 23resting firmly against the top walls of the sockets in which theyaremounted, is equal to the amount of difference in thickness betweenthe thickesty and the thinnest localities of the blank.

The lower blank-engaging member 19 comprises a thick plate havingdepending from its under side two upright barsl one of which is shown at197, said bars being vertically slidable in guideways formed in theframe of the machine. A cross-bar199 connects these upright bars; and asocketed cylindrical member 201 is integral lwith the plate and with thecross-bar 199. Inserted in the socket in this member 201 is a heavyspring 203, and extending into the base vkof the socket and into contactwith the lowerV endof the spring is a plunger 205 having driven into ita pin 207 which extends through a vertical slot in one wall ofthesocket, the plunger having a'slot in its lower end to receive the outerend of a supporting 4arm 209 which is fast to a rock-shaftf211.

This rock-shaft has fast to its outer end a ratchet 213 having a singletooth which is adapted to v`be engaged by a spring-pressed pawl 215. InFig. 2, this pawl is shown as being held out of operative positionby amember thev operation of .which wil1v be described later since itfunctions only 1n special cases. The pawl is mounted in a pawl carrier217 loose on the rock-shaft 211 and pivoted to one end of alink 219, theother end of which is pivoted to an arm 221 the hub of which is fast toa sleeve`223, the sleeve being loosely mounted on a rod 225 and havingintegral with it an upright arm engaging members, the cam rod 229 isVthe blank reaches the knife.

pulled to the right, thereby causing the link 219 to move to the rightand the pawl 215 to lrotate the 'one-toothed .ratchet 213 a shortdistance in the direction indicated by the arr-ow. This rocks the shaft211 and causes the outer end of the arm 209 torise thereby raising thelower blank-engaging member 19 Vyieldingly through the heavy spring 203,

this movement being so timed that the member 19 reaches its uppermostposition,which in every case is determined by the thickness of theblank, just before the v front end of The power driven rolls 31 thenfeed the yblank to the knife. 1

In order to hold the lower member 19 with its rolls 31 rigidly fromvvertical movement during the splitting or evening operation, there areformed on the back sides of each of the upright slides 197 teeth whichare engaged at the proper time by locking pawls. In Fig. 8 the teethformed on the back side of one of the slides 197, together with thepawls which co-operate with those teeth, are shown, it being understoodthat similar teeth are formed on the back side of the other slide 197 ywith which similar pawls co-operate. Inasmuch as these 'two lockingmechanisms are, or may be, duplicates of each other, only one has beenshown. Referring now to the details of construction of the lockingmechanism shown in Fig. 8, formed on the back side of the arm 197 are aseries of downwardly pointing teeth 235 and a series of upwardlypointing teeth 236. Adapted to co-operate with the downwardly pointingteeth 235 are a plurality of pawls 239, three being shown, each havingupwardlypointing teeth; and adapted to cooperate rwith the upwardlypointing lteeth 236 are three pawls 238 having downwardly pointingteeth. By providing three pawls in each case the rows of teeth of whichare out of alinementwith one another, a finer locking Aadjustment can besecured with teeth of a given size than would be practicable' were therebut two'pawls in all, one for the teeth 235 and one for the teeth 2136.The pawl's'of both sets are slotted horizontally to receive a pin241which is rigidly mounted in 'the pawl carrier 243 and serves as anabutment for springs 244 one for each pawl. The pawl carrier243has.depending from'each end an integral arm, one of which is shown at245, the hubs of which are loose on the rod 225.

Pivoted to an arm 227 andv extending "througha hole in an ear on the arm245 is right to cause the lowerl blank-engaging member 19 to be raised.When this occurs, the pawl carrier 243 is pushed yieldingly tothe rightto bring the teeth of its pawls into co-operation with the teeth 235,236 formed on the 'slides 197, the pawl carrier being held in thisposition during the skiving operation and released at the end of thatoperation by the action of the cam 233 on the roll 230. f

The parts of the locking mechanism which has just been described, aswell as those of the mechanism for raising the lower blankengagingmember 19 and for permitting it to fall are so-constructed and arrangedthat they operate as follows. When the rod 229 is pulled to the rightthereby swinging the arms 227 and 221 to the right, 'the pawls 238, 239are not at first engaged with the teeth 235, 236. The lirst part of thisroel:- ing` movement of the arm acts through the rod 219 and pawl 215 toturn the shaft 211 in a clockwise direction thereby causing the arm 209to` raise the plunger 205 and thereby the heavy spring 203 and the lowerblank-engaging member 19 until the blank is pressed firmly up againstthe upper blankengaging member and the spring 203 somewhat compressed.Up to this point, the locking pawls 238, 239 have not engaged the teeth236, 235.- However, as the arm 209 continues its upward swingingmovement and compresses the spring 203 a little more, the pawl carryingarm 227 is swung far enough to cause the looking pawl to engage theirrespective teeth on the slide 197 and thereby lock the lowerblank-engaging member from movement either up or down. The cam 233 isshaped to hold the locking paw-ls 237, 238 inrenga'gement' with theteeth 236, 235 during thel splitting or evening of the blank and then tomovev the rod 229 to 'the left. rlhe first part of this movementreleases the pawls and relieves the compressionof theheavy spring`203,and the latter part of "this movement permits the lower blank-engagingmember to fall into lowered position ready to receive the next blank. Bymanipulating the thumb nut 251, the locking and unlocking ac'tionof thepawls 237, 238 may be properly timed.

y rl"hus far it has been assumed that the blanks which pass through themachine are all uneven, that is that each blank is not of uniformthickness throughout. y ln practice, however, many of the blanks are ofuniform Ulti lili

llt;

ieu

lil

or substantially uniform thickness throughout; andit is desirable thatno stock should be removed vfrom such blanks. Accordingly provision ismade whereby, whenka blank of uniform thickness is encountered, thelower member 19 of the skiving mechanism is not raised at all, sothat'the blank is fed freely over it and beneath the knife Without beingskived.l plished yby holding the pawl 215 out of operative position, asshown in Fig. 2, yso that it cannot engage the one-tooth ratchet 213,andthe supporting arm 209 will not be raised. To this end (se-e Fig. 2)a lshield 253 slotted to receive the end of the rockshaft 211 is carriedat lone end of a link 255 the other en'd of which is pivoted to thelower end ofan arm 257 the upper end of which is fast to the rock-shaft161 so that, when the rock-shaft is rocked in the direction indicatedbythe arrow, the shield 253 occupies the position shown and holds the pawl215m inoperative position. The rocking of the shaft in 'this manner isgoverned by a finger 259 which is carried by a block 261 adjustably heldby a screw bolt 263 at the slotted upper end of avlever 265 the hub ofwhich is pinned to the rock-shaft 161 and has a tail adapted toco-opera'te with. a cam 267 fast to the rotary 'shaft 67. A spring 269acts at all times topull the upper part of the lever 265 toward thefront of the machine and thereby to move the finger 259 toward or overthe controller 103 according to the position of the controller.V

The operation of the mechanism which has just been described is asfollows. With the. parts of the machine in the positions shown in Fig. 2in which no blank is being tested or operated upon, the finger 259 eX-tends over the controller 103 and the' shield 253 holds the pawl 215V ininoperativel position. During the time that the feed slide 13 isadvancing a blank to the testing mechanism, thecam 267V operates :uponthe tail of the lever 265 and rocks the lever, and with it therock-shaft 161, in a direction to move the finger 259 toward the rear ofthe machine until it no longer extends over the controller 103; and thesame rocking kof the shaft 161 moves the shield 2,53 toward the front ofthe machine and thereby disengages the pawl and permits it to move intooperative position. The cam 267 is shaped to hold the finger `andshield'in these positions during the testing of the blank and the effectof the testing upon-the controller 103. If the blank is not ofv uniform.thickness throughout, that is if it has a thickness-difference, thecontroller 103 `will be raised into thek path of the finger 259 so that,when presently the cam 267 has rotated far enough to permit the tail ofthe lever 265 to fall and the spring 269 is free, sok far as the cam isconcerned, to pull the lever back into the This result is accomfAssuming that with the position shown inlFig. 2, the end of the finger259 willl encounter oneV face of the T-shaped controller 103, as shownin Fig. 3.

This will arrest the Vrotation of the rock-` shaft 161 before the shield253 has been moved far enough `to raise the pawl 215 to inoperativepositio Consequently, if the blank which is being tested lhas athicknessdifference, the finger 259 and its associated pawl-throi-outmechanism will'not affect the operation of the skiving mechanism,and the bla-nk will be skived, as vhas been described so as to produce afinished article of the maximum uniform thickness possible.

On the other hanf, if the blank which is being tested is of uniformthickness-' in which case it is desirable not to skive itat all-thecontroller 103 will not be raised at all since the gears 119, 121, whosedifferential rotation causes the raisingv of the controller, will bothbe rot-ated equally in the same direction. When,` therefore, thehcam267'reaches the 269 will be permitted to pull the lever 265 toward thevfront of the machine so as to rockthe shaft 161 far enough to push theshield 253 beneath Vthe pawl 215 and holdfit in inoperative position.With the pawl thus held, the movement `of the link 219 toward the rearof the-machine will not rock t'he shaft 211gand consequently the lowermember 19 of the skiving mechanismwill not be raised at all. The blankwill thus be delivered upon the power driven rolls 31 and fed under theknife without being skived.' y

In order to promote clearness of explanation the operation of thepawl-controlling mechanism, including the nger 259 has just beendescribed vin connection with a blank which is of uniform thicknessthroughout. Of course few blanks form thickness, as of uniform thicknessblanks whose thick-` ness-difference is small. For example, a heel-liftblank the thickness-difference of w'hich is only one iron (1/48of `aninch) would in many factories be suitable for use without -,being skivedto an absolutely uniform thickness. fIt is therefore desirable thatv themachine thatrblanks having either a certain amount Vofthickness-difference or an amount greater than that .certain amount willbe skived, but

that blanks whichhave thickness-differences less than the certain amountwill not be skived.' 'This is the reason that the finger 259isadjustablymountedon the lever 265.

finger in the adjusted position shown all blanks having anythickness-difference f at while all blanks of uniform thickness will notbe skived, it is only necessary to adjust the finger slightly higher tocause all blanks having a' thickness-difference less than a certainamount to pass through the machinev proper position, theA spring are ofabsolutely'unt. but it is desirableto treat be capable of being'setso Lall will be lskivedV should be understood, however, as has been -oneside with the gear wit-hout being operated upon by the skivingmechanism. lt is thuspossible to prevent the skiving of all blankswhich, for example,

have a thiclmess-di'lference of one iron orA less by adjusting the block261 which carries the linger 259; and to facilitate such adjustment theblock has upon it a scale which may represent irons and half-irons, andthe lever has a mark to eo-'operate with the scale.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. i, with occasional reference toFig. 1, the nanner in which the rolls 31 of the lower blank-engagingmember 19 are driven will be described. Mounted loosely on the shaft 67is an arm 279 having pivoted to its upper end one end of a gear-carryinglink 281, the other end of the link being pivoted on the shaft of thefirst roll 31, there being five of these rolls. The link carries twogears 283, 285, the'gear 283 meshing with the driven gear 69, andthegear 285 meshing on 283 and on they other with a gear 287 which is fastto one end of the shaft of the rst rollv 31. Referring now entirely toFig. 6, the vfirst roll 31 has keyed on its left-hand end a gear 289which rmeshes with an idle gear 291 loose onthe shaft of the secondroll. On the left-hand end of the third roll is keyed a gear 293 whichmeshes with an idle gear 295 loose on the shaft of the fourth roll, thelatter gear meshing with a gear 297 keyed to the shaft of the fifthroll. With the construction thus far described. the first, thirdv andfifth rolls will be driven all in the same direction. 1n order to drivethe second and fourthrolls in the same direction, the shaft of the thirdroll has fast to its right-hand end an internal gear 299 with which meshgears 301. 303 fast re- -spectively to the right-hand ends of the shaftsof the second and fourth rolls. "N ith this construction the rolls l31are all driven at the same speed in the same direction, and the mesh ofthe various gears is not disturbed` by the vert-ical movement of themember 19. Y

The operations ofthe various mechanisms which make up the machine havebeen described above one by one. The general operation of the machinewill no-w be described briefly, first with reference to a blank which isnot of uniform thickness throughout and second with reference to a blankwhich is of uniform thickness throughout since the description will thusbe much simplified. It

explained'above, that a more accurate division of the blanks intoclasses would place in one class the vblanks which havethicknessdifferences great enough to cause them to be operated upon andin another class those which do not, since whether or not a blank whichhas a thickness-difference vwill be operated upon depends upon theheight at which the finger 259 is set, and this may be set to Vanypredetermined standard.

Assuming that the lower-most blank in the magazine is uneven inthickness, the general operation of the machine is as follows. The blankis fed into position beneath the plate 15 and above the detecting rolls81 and permitted to remain stationary during the testing operation.During this feeding of the blank, or at least before the detecting rollshave moved upwardly, the cam 267 has moved into position to withdraw thefinger 259 from above the controller 103. l/Vhile the blank remainsstationary beneath the plate 15, the detecting rolls 81 are forced upagainst the under side of the blank, the two rolls 81 which engagerespectively the thickest and the thinnest localities standing thenrespectively at levels lower and higher than any of the others. rllheseltwo rolls by their positions and the resulting positions of theirassociated levers 145, cam rods 1111 and slides 135 pull the racks 123and 125 different distances toward the front of the machine. the levers,cam rods, etc., associated with the other three detecting rolls 81 beingwithout effect. Pulling the racks 123, 125 different distances producesdifferential rotation of the gears 119, 121, and through the pin andslot connection 117, 115 raises the T-shaped controller 103 a distanceproportional to the difference in extent of the rotation of the gears119, 121. Meanwhile the wedge 157 has been released by the cam 165 andis now forced beneath the righthand end of the head of the controller103 so as to hold it in raised position. The cam 267 now releases thelever 265 on which the finger 259 ismounted', but the finger and leverare prevented from moving a distance effective to bring the shield 253into operation by reason of the end of the finger coming into contactwith the controller as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. r[he cam 173 now releasesthe leverl 169 which permits the face of the setting member 111 to movetoward the front of the machine until it is stopped by contact with thestop-face 109 of the controller 103. This movement of the setting memberpulls the'wedges 183 toward the front of the machine and lowers theupper blank-engaging member 17 into proper position. The blank lis fedforward until its leading edge is close to the knife, whereupon thecamf233, through the links. 229, 219 and pawl 215 rocks the shaft 211.rIhe first part of this rocking movement raises the lower blank-engagingmember 19 to press the blank against the upper blank-engaging member 17;and the last part of this move-- ment causes the pawls 238. 239 to lockthe lower blank-engaging member rigidly from vertical movement. Thepower-drivenrolls 31 which are then in engagement with the under side ofthe blank feed it totheknife Cil fia

I' claim as new and desire to secure which skivesrit to a uniformthickness. .In

the further rotation of the shaft 67 the various parts are brought backto the posi` tions shown in Fig. 2 ready to start another cvcle.

Assuming now that'the next blank which is fed is even in thickness, thatis of anniform thickness throughout, the detecting rolls 81, whenbrought up against its under side, will all stand at the same level.Consequently the gears 119, 121 of the controlling mechanism will' bothbero-fated through the same distance andthe controller 103 will not beraised. Therefore when, presently. the cam`267 releases the lever 265,the finger 259 will not contact with the head of the controller but willpermit the lever'to be rocked, and with it the rock-shaft 161, until theshield 253 raises the pawl 215 into inoperative position and holds itthere. The blank is now fed forward as before until its leading edge isclose to the knife; but, owing to the fact that the pawl 215 .is beingheld inoperative, the lower blank-engaging member is not raised bv theoperation of the cam 233, and consequently the blank is fed beneath theknife without being skived.

Although the invention-has been set forth as embodied in a. particularmachine, it should be understood that the. invention is not limited inthe scope of itsapplication to the particular machine which has beenshown and described. The method of testing blanks for variation in aselected characteristic and of first testing them and then operatingwith respect to this characteristic forms the subject-matter of vUnitedStates Letters Patent No. 1,448,045, granted March 13, 1923, on anapplication filed in my name; and a machine for testing the blanks for`variation and then grading them in accordancewith the variation formsthe subject-matter of UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 1,442,233, grantedAug'. 16, 1922, on anY application filed in my name.

Havingthus described my invention, what n by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A machine of the class describe-d, having in combination, means fordetermining the amount of variation of an ,article with respect to aselected characteristic, and means controlled bythevariation-determining means for changingthat characteristic.

2. A machine ofthe class described, having in combination, means fordetermining the amount of variation of an article with respect to aselected characteristic, and means controlled by thevariation-determining means for rendering it uniform in thatcharacteristic.

3. A machine of the class described, having in combination, means fordetermining the amount of' variation of an article with respect teSelected characteristic, and

means .controlled by the variation-determining means for removing stockfrom the article to render it uniform in that characteristic. l

4. A 'machine of the class described, havfor detecting a selectedcharacteristic of an article at spaced localities, and meansV responsiveto the dierence-in the'amount of the findings of the detecting devicesfor changing that characteristic. i

5. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a plurality.of devices for detecting a selected characteristicofr'an article atspaced localities, and means responsive to the'difference in 'the amountof the findings of the detecting devices for 6. A machine of the classdescribed,`fhav ing in combination, a plurality of vdevices fordetecting a selected characteristic of'an article at spaced localities,and means fresponsive to the difference in the amount of ing incombinatioma plurality of devices soA lrendering it uniformin thatcharacteristic.

the findings of the detecting devices for" removing stock from thearticle torender it uniform in that characteristic. j

.7 A machine of the class described, having in combination, means fordetermining the amount of difference in thickness between a plurality oflocalities of a blank, and means controlled by the amount of differenceas found by the determining means for skiving the blank to a uniformthickness. y, l

V8. A machine of the class described, having in combination, mechanismfor determining the amount of difference in thickness between aplurality of localities of a blank, skiving mechanism, and connectionsbetween the determining mechanism and the `skivinglmechanismV forsetting the skiving mechanism-in accordance with t-he amount of thethickness-difference. y

' 9. A machine of the class'described, having in combination, a*Yplurality of detectors adapted to engage a bla-nk, means for [caus- -ingthe detectors-to be pressed against the blank,'a nd means for y'reducingthe thickness of the blankV in, accordance with the amount of differencebetween the findings of the detectors`- y 10`. VA machine of the classdescribed, hai i ing in combination, a plurality of detectors adapted toengage a blank, means forcausing the detectorsto be pressed againstl'the accordance with the amount fof difference between the findings ofthe detectors. A machine of the class described, having in combination,a numbery of` detectors greater than two adapted to engage a blank atspaced localities/tok determine a characteristicof theblankatthoselocalities, vand means for Vskiv'inglthe blank in accordancewith the -agrnoiunt 'of ldifference between the blank, and mea-nsVforskiving the blank in y and means operatedby the testing means ladjustin 'theiilj rboth members'ri'gidly from movement away I Y l Yfi'ifigifn combination, Y .D

,iinefmbers 'for advancing the .blank to the fio ing. in combination,mechanism for testing a blank todeternune. the amount o varia.-

tion in a lselected characteristic of the blank,

mechanismfor changing the selected characteristic, a controller theposition of which governs the e'ftent'of thechange produced,

i mechanisinjfor adjusting the controller in accordancewith the amountot variation found by the determining means.

1.3. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a supportagainst which yaVy blank may bey pressed, ,a plurality ot individually'movable yielding detectors', a carrier in which the detectors aremounted, i lfor,moving the carrier toward the support to' cause thedetectors to press against 'thejfblfank and thereby determine thediderece between the' ma'xiinum and mini- -mum Athickness of y the blankat the localities engaged, a controller, means including a pluralityoflev'ers, diie for each detector, for

tliey Vc(` rtroller in accordance with vtheamount, of the difference,skiving mechanism including a cutter andv two blank-ening members, andmeans tor adjusting onefot rthe vmembers 1n accordance with the adjgsted 'position ofthe controller.

14'. A'mach'in'e or" the class described,.havlng in, combination, acutter and two mem- 'Yb'efrls' fory adv' n nga blank toi the cutter,

said niembe sfb ng-located Aoneon one side inge-'ans of of the-piane oitthe' cui: and one on the other,

:arr n 'fged tofperniit adjustment first i' member and then the' othertoward ane ofthecut,and"means for holding from Vsaid planeduring"-tlievcuttingfoperation, 1 the finally a j usted positions ot fthe members,determining the thickness to which A'the blank 'willbesplit.

15. maclimeof the class described, haring in`co-n'ibi`nation, a cutterandtwo' mem- Vment first ot' one member..

y speci:` to the' cette@ ,bers Aio'r a'di'fan'cing a .blankl toy thecutter,

yielding pr'e's'sersy carried vby one ,of the members, means arranged toypermit adjustn i and then otv the other tcward the'- plane of the' cut,and

l, 's for' hldii'igV both menbers i rigidly from lmovement awaytro-m'said plane durthe cutting operationv Aimachi'ne of the classdescribed, hav- 1f..... f uil-,H Y, 1. lng 1n combination, a` cutter,biank-engaging members" lfor engagingV a blank during between them,

members for advancing a blank and the other with respect to fromI thecutter,

i member toward andi; means for moving Athe other member toward theadjusted member until the blank is"firinly`r engaged by both members,the inally adjusted positions of the members determining ,the thicknessto which the blank will be split.

17. A machine of the class described, haf- Y a' cutter,blank-engagbla'nk. to the cutter, means fo'r adjusting Oneof saidmembers intor the desired relation withV respect to the cutter, 4themembers" being V at this time spaced apart a distance greater than thethickness of the blanky to` be roperated `upon so that the blank may beplaced between ing in combination,

them, means for yieldin'gly .moving the other member toward the adjustedmember until the blank is firmly engaged by both members, and meansA forlocking the yieldingly moved member from m'bvement away from the blankduring' the cutting operation.

18. A machine of theclass described, having in combination, a cutter,and a pair lot blank-engaging members for advancing a blank to thecutter, one ot said members con'iprising yindividually vyieldingpressers spaced widthwise and lengthwise ot thc 1 comprising spacedvfeed rolls, the blank-engaging elements ot which are located in acommon plane.

.159. machine ot the class described, having in combination, a cutter,a. pair ot blank-engaging members for advancing a blank tothe cutter,one ot said members comprising vindividually yielding pressers.roll's,-the blank-engaging' elen'ients off which areloca'tedlin acommon plane, and' means. for adjusting the members in succession.y

, 20. machine of the class described, hava'cutter, blank-e aging cutter,the finally adjusted positions oit said members determining' thethickness to which the blank will boxsplit, moans tor yadjusting oneotth'e'mcmbers into the desiredposition Y the vedge ot the cutter 'andfor holding it rigidly from movcmcntaway and-means capable ci beingoperated thereafter-tor moving the other the first named member andior-lioldii'ig it also rigidly from movement away Vfrom' the cutter.

21. `fr machine for skivinga blank ot uneven vtli'ickness to an `eventhickness, having in combination, a knile`v a gage member theblank-engaging face or which is no malljspaced from the plane o' the cutof the knit'e a distance greater than thetamouut o the difference inthickness between the thickest and the thinnest localities ot tl eblank, a feed member adapted to' co-opewte with theA gage member inadvancing the blank to the knife, means for adjusting the lll) gageinember toward the plane of the cut of the knife, and means forthereafter moving the feed member toward the gage member to cause thetwo members to grip and feed the blank.

22. A machine for operating upon a blank of uneven thickness, having incombination, a cutter, and members located in front of the cutter forengaging the blank on both sides, means for adjusting one of' themembers into a position inwhich its blank-engaging face is spaced fromthe plane of the cut of the cutter a distance substantially equal to theamount of difference in thickness between two localities of the blank,and

means for'causing the blank to be gripped vof the cutter and having itsface spaced from the plane of the cut a distance substantially equal tothe amount of difference in thickness between two localities of theblank, and means `for pressing the blank against the gaging member andfeeding the blank while so pressed to the cutter.

24. A machine for operating upon a blank of uneven thickness, having incombination, a cutter, a gaging member located in front of the cutterand having its face spaced from the plane of the cut a distance equal tothe amount of n ness between the thickest and thinnest substantiallylocalities of the blank, andineans for presing the blank against thegaging member and feeding the blank while so pressed to the cutter.

of uneven thickness, having in combination,

f :i cutter, a gaging member and a feed meinand the feedmembercomprising a plurality of rigidly mounted pressers, the membersbeing adjusted into such position that vthe distance between'a planepassed through the Vblank-engaging elements of the rigidly mountedpressers and a plane 4passed through the blank-engaging elements oftheyieldingly mounted pressers when in' their iretracted positions issubstantially `equal to the thickness of thethickest locality'of theblank, and means for maintaining the members in such relative positionsduring the cutting operation.

26.A machine for skiving an unevenV blank, having in combination, askiving knife, two opposed blank-engaging members for advancing theblank tothe knife, yielding pressers mounted in one member yin suchdifference in thick-v A vtwo localities of the blank. bei' forpresenting the blank to the cutter,

the gaging membercomprising a pluralityy of yieldingly mounted pressersthe blank-"engaging elements of which lie in a lcommon plane when thepressers arefully retracted,`

- its blank-engaging manner that initheiiefully retracted positions theypresent a rigid blank-engagingV surface, means for adjusting the memberlvhaving the pressers into a position relative to the knife such that theblank-engaging surface formed by thev pressers when fully retracted-isspaced from the plane ofthe cut of the knife ay givenfdistance, andmeans Vfor moving the other member toward the tions they present arigid, blank-engaging surface, means for, adjusting the member havingthe pressers into a position relative to the knife such that theblank-engaging surface-formed by the Vpressers when fully retracted isspaced from the plane of thev cut of the knife a distance proportionalto the difference in thickness; between two localities of the blank, andmeans for moving the other member toward. the member in which thepressers are mounted.l

28; A machine for skiving a blank of non-uniform thickness, having incombination, a skiving knife, meansffor forcing ,the

`blank Vagainst the edge of the knife, said means consisting of a memberarranged to engage that side of .the .blank from which the skiving is tobe removed and a member for engaging that sidev of the'blank which is tobe `part of the-finished article, and meansffor adjusting thefirst-named member into a position in which its blank-eni Y j gagin'gface is spaced from'the planeof the 25. A machine for o eratin u on ablank Y g cut of the knife adistance substantially equal to thedifference in thickness between l29. Afmachine .for lskivingfa blank of'nonuniform tliickness,.having in combination, a.

lside of the blankwhich is to be part ofA the nished article,

'means for adjusting the first-named member into a position inv which Yface'iis spaced from the plane of thecut of the knife av distancesubstantially equal to the difference in thickness between twolocalities of the blank, and means for thereafter moving the othermember toward the first-named member.

30. A machine for removing a skiving from'a vblank of sheet material toreduce the blank to a uniform thickness throughout,

`in combination, ak skiving knife, a Y

having, pair of members forpresenting an edge of the blank to the knifeand for feeding the blank in a path parallel to the plane ofthe Y mentaway blank-engaging members een cut of the knife' during' the skivingoperation, each member being provided with means for-engaging the blankduring the cutting operation throughout an area sufficient to maintainthe uncut portion of the blank substantially f flat, and means' forrigidly supporting the members from movefrom the knife during theskiving, operation.

31. A machine for operating upon a blank of uneven thickness, having incombination, testing mechanism Y for; determir'iingthethickness-diiference of the blank, skiving mechanism including a cuttervand two for advancing tlie blank tothe cutter, and means including thetesting mechanism for moving rst one .member and then the other intoproper position with respect tothe cutter.

. 32. A machine for operating upon a blank of uneven thickness,- havingin lcombination, testing mechanism lfor determining thethickness-'difference of the. blank, skiving mechanism including acutter and two blankengaging members for advancing the blank to thecutter, means includingV the testing mechanism for moving first onemember Iand then the other into proper position with respect to thecutter, vand means for holding both members fro-m movement away from theblank during the cutting operation.

33. A machine for operating upon a blank .of uneven thickness, having incombination, testing mechanism for determining the Athickness-differenceof the blank, skiving mechanism including a cutter, a blank-engagingmember comprising a plurality of andV a blaiik-eiigaging member having arigid blank-engaging face, and means Vfor adjusting the first-namedmember in` accordance with the determination of the testing mechanism.

84:.' A machine for operating upon a blank of uneven thickness, havingin combination, testingV mechanism 'forY determining thethickness-difference 'of the blank, skiving mechanism including acutter, a blank-engaging member comprising a plurality of yieldingpressers and a blank-engaging member having a rigidr blank-engagingface, means for adjusting theYrst-namedmeinyielding pressers .ber inaccordance with the determination of the testing mechanism, and meansfortherfeafter ymoving the other member toward the adjusted member.

A machine of uneven thickness, having in combination, testing mechanismfor determining the thickness-difference of the blank, skivingmechanism, means for adjustingy the skiving mechanism in accordance withthe determination of the testing mechanism, and means for feeding theblank first to the testingmechanism and then' tol the skivingmechamechanism,

^ means for operating upon a blankA 36.l A machine for operating upon ablank of uneven tliickness,.liaviiig in combination, testing mechanism.for determining the thickness-difference of the blank, skiving means foradjusting the` skiving. mechanism in accordance with the determinationof the testing mechanism, a magazine for holding-a stack ofv blanks, andfor feeding the blanks one by one first to the testing mechanism andthen tov .the skiving mechanism.

37. rA machine for operating upon a series of blanks, having in,combination, means for testing each blank to determine whether itisuniformor non-uniforin in a selected;

characteristic, mechanism capable of changving thecharacteristic, meansfor causing the mechanism to operate upon they blanks which arenon-uniform andv other means for pre-V venting the mechanismfroinoperating upon `the blanks which are uniform.

38. A machine forr operating upon a series of blanks, having incombination, means for testing each blank to determine whether it isuniform or non-uniform in thickness, mechanism capable -of changing thecharacteristic, means for causing the mechanism to operate upon theblanks which are non-uniform and other meansfor preventing the mechanismfrom operating upon-the blanks which are uniform. j f

39. vA machine for operating uponv a series of blanks having, incombination, means for testing each vblanktoA determine whether it, isuniform or non-uniform in thickness, a skiving knife, a gage memberlocated above the plane of the knife, a co-operating feed member locatedbelow the plane of the knife and normally spaced below the gage member adistance sufficient to permit a blank to pass freely beneath the knife,and means responsive to the operation vof the testing mechanism upon ablank of non-uniform thickness for'raising the'feed member andAresponsive to the operation of 'the testing mechanism upona blank ofuniform thickness for preventing the feed member from being raised.

40. A vmachine ofthe class described having, in combination, detecting nmechanism, skiving mechanism, said Vskivingr mechanism including a gagememberV which is set in accordance with the determinations of thedetecting mechanism and a co-operating feed member which' may thereafterAbe raised to press the 'blank against the gage Amember, andmeansresponsive to non-uniformity in thickness of a blank for raising saidfeed member and responsive to uniformity in thickness of a blank forpreventing the feed member from being raised.

41. A machine for operating upon a series of blanks, having' incombination, means including a plurality of independently moveablefeelers for testing each blank to deterf minel whether it isuniform orvnon-uniform in thickness, skiving mechanism, means for advancing eachblank from the testing mechanism to the skiving mechanism, andconnections between the two mechanisms responsive to the positions ofthe feelers constructed and arranged to cause the skiving mecha.- nismto operate upon the non-uniform blanks and to prevent it from operatingupon the uniform blanks. l

42. A machine for operating upon a. series of blanks, having incombination, means for testing each blank to determine whether it isuniform or non-uniform in a selected characteristic Withinapredetermined standard, mechanism capable of changing thecharacteristic and governing means for causing the mechanism to operateupon the blanks which are non-uniform and for preventing the mechanismfrom operating upon the blanks which are uniform. saidgoverning meansincluding va'ry the limit of the standard.

43. A machine for operating upon a series a member adjustable to ence ispresent, said last-named mechanism. including a member capable ofadiustment to render the skiving mechanisminoperative when athickness-difference is present inl a' blank but is less than apredetermined amount. y

44. A machine of the class described, having in combination, meansfor'determining the amount of variation of an articlewith Vrespect to adimension. thereof, and means controlled by the variation-determiningmeans for'effecting a change in the article with respect to thatdimension. f

In testimony whereof I have` signedl my name to this specification.

JAMES G. NORTON.

